The block of undecided GOP voters hit 35 percent in the survey, but Clemson political scientist Bruce Ransom told The Greenville News that "a lot of that's going to break for Lindsey."

Fellow Clemson political science professor Dave Woodard noted Graham's re-election war chest has more than $12 million – and his campaign poured it on for the primary race, the newspaper notes.

"It paid off," Woodard said. "That's the short answer."

The poll also found a surge in the number of Republican primary voters who said they'd vote for Graham regardless of who runs against him, from 31 percent in a Clemson poll in September to 46 percent in the latest survey.

"The Graham campaign did an outstanding job in heading off the uprising at the pass," he said, adding: "What Graham was successful in doing was tethering himself to fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, touting his conservative credentials in commercials, and basically telling voters that at the end of the day he's a conservative."
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